All but one of the following sentences have something to do with your computer. You’ve probably heard at least a couple of them, or used them yourself:

• “Where is the driver disk that came with your printer?”
• “Grab the latest driver from their Web site.”
• “There was an issue with a driver that caused your computer to implode.”
• “I can’t find the driver, will this putter work?”

Drivers - they seem so important, yet so unapproachable, like the secret service.

You drive your car, but unless you’re Fred Flintstone, you’re not providing much of the momentum that your car requires. That’s what your car’s engine is for. However, you are the one who has learned the rules of driving and how to operate your vehicle. You know which levers to pull, which buttons to mash and which lights to turn on and off (and when). The car does all the hard work - you’re just the driver.

A computer driver isn’t much different.

Drivers are software, plain and simple. When Microsoft Word wants to print the letter you wrote, it passes the information about the letter to your printer’s software driver. The driver translates that information into specific instructions to send to the printer, then voila, printing perfection.

You’ve probably witnessed at least one instance of a printer spewing page after page of gobbledygook. An incorrect driver is one cause for that. If the driver isn’t sending information that the printer can recognize, the printer throws a tantrum.

If you’ve been using computers for at least ten years, you’ll agree that “plug and play” has matured significantly. Every device you can buy at your local computer retailer carries a special device identification number. This number identifies the vendor of the device and the particular model of the device itself.

When your operating system recognizes that a new device has been connected to your computer, it asks the device for its ID. The operating system compares that ID with a database to determine what the device is. If your operating system can’t figure it out, it will ask you to give it a hand.

All of this happens so that your operating system can match your new device with the right driver.

Drivers, or lack thereof, are often the piece of your computing experience that runs afoul. That fancy new all-in-one printer/scanner/copier/blender you picked up on eBay isn’t nearly as satisfying if your computer can’t recognize the device or tell it to puree.

Windows Vista - the latest version of Microsoft’s PC-class operating system - is a prime example of the dichotomy between drivers and satisfaction. Even after Vista’s first birthday, users and equipment manufacturers still struggle with driver issues.

When I buy a new piece of hardware, it invariably comes with a CD that contains the drivers. However, I’ve learned that by the time the CD is packaged with the hardware, the vendor usually has an updated version of the driver on their Web site. The lesson: Consider checking the vendor’s Web site for a current driver each time you install a device.

Microsoft Update has matured to the point where it often has updated drivers for your hardware. Unless you’re a hardcore user and prefer getting your cutting-edge drivers directly from the vendor, consider checking Microsoft Update for fresh drivers.

Kevin McDonald: Writer and professional computer/network administrator. He lives in Amarillo with his wife and children, and owns and operates Definition Computers. E-mail Kevin at askthegeek@definitioncomputers.com with questions you’d like to see answered in this column.

(This article was originally published in the Amarillo Independent newspaper.)